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We currently live in Crown Heights Brooklyn, surrounded by many bars and restaurants with close vicinity to prospect park.
Why are you moving?
I have been in brooklyn for the last 13 years and am unwilling to keep up with the rent hikes in the borough. We currently pay 1700/month for a 1 1/2 bd apt and would probably have to pay more for the same situation if we moved within the borough. My wife and I are peering over the rivers to see if our money could go further owning rather than filling the pockets of our useless landlord.
Where will you be working ? If NYC, what part of NYC?
I work in harlem, near the 125th st MTA north line. (why not move upstate? I love fishing and require access to the wonderful coasts 3/4 of the year).
Will you buy or rent?
We would like to buy.
What is your budget ?
I make 75k a year w/ full health for both of us, while my wife makes 30k a year; combined our gross is 105k. She plans on going to school next spring to get into teaching or nursing.
Our combined debt is 17k in student loans and 4k in credit cards. We do not have much savings but am considering an FHA mortgage or a gift from our families to start. We also own a car that was purchased with our savings upfront.
With 1700 of our monthly earnings going towards rent, we wonder if a mortgage w/ all the auxiliary costs of owning a home/commuting would actually help us save money in the long run. (If we were to move within the borough, the rent would most likely increase to 2300 /month.)
I think my price range is 250-300k but please correct me if I'm wrong.
What kind of place are you looking for ?
- A 3-4bdr home with a backyard. Renovated would be nice but I'm also handy with tools.
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you ?
My wife, a 60lb. dog and 2 cats. (dog park would be a plus)
Do you need/want good public schools?
not immediately but we plan on putting the chicken in the oven soon
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in
- Walking distance to a main strip would be a plus
- 45min commute to penn station max, since i have to travel up to harlem afterwords. (currently my commute is 45 min via train or bike)
- we are in our early to mid 30's and would like a bar/restaurant scene nearby if possible.
- safe is always a good thing but we are also used to folks who are rough around the edges.
- we love the outdoors, biking/hiking/swimming.
- My wife is a vegetarian and loves farmers markets, coops, eco things.
- progressive and diverse communities.
All in all what towns do you think we can afford to live in in our current financial situation? It's really difficult to get ahead living in brooklyn and any advice would be appreciated.
I'm not sure what's affordable up there, but I think you should just consider someplace you can commute via bus over the GWB instead of going through Penn Station. It has the possibility to save you a lot of time and inconvenience.
There's a number of towns in/near Bergen County with homes in your price range: Waldwick, Fair Lawn, Hawthorne, Bergenfield, Dumont, Teaneck. The last 3 would be a fit commuting if you take the bus (to the GWB bus terminal) then subway down, the others are on the NJT line. City Data has good info on diversity and school rankings.
With a car you can quickly drive to some things on your list like hiking trails, farmer's markets, dog parks.
First thing you should do is contact a lender to get pre-approved so you know how much you're working with.
Sorry to break it to you but even if you buy in the $250k range with an FHA loan your mortgage is going to be well over $1700 a month especially once you factor in taxes.
There's also a lot of bills you've never had to pay as a renter like heating and water plus basic upkeep. Your commuting costs are also going to increase considerably as you'll still need your metro card to get uptown and that train ticket into Penn is going to be at least a couple of hundred a month.
Don't get me wrong I think buying a house is absolutely a better investment than paying over priced NYC rents forever but don't go into this expecting to lower your expenses at all.
Good point icibiu. You guys should run the NY Times' Rent-Own calculator to see exactly what you're talking about when you say "long run". For example, in my family's situation we will break even after about 6 years and start making money on our purchased home compared to renting.
As long as we don't have to do something like replace the roof. Or the siding. Or re-sod the lawn. Or put up a fence. Or renovate the bathroom. Or...
But it's a great tool to be honest, it'll really let you see what you're comparing. As JKinNJ said, talk to a lender and have them tell you how much you can actually budget to spend on a house.
Your rent actually sounds pretty good for Brooklyn, and $1,700 is very low for buying a house in NNJ. That being said, Maplewood/South Orange would meet all of your other requirements (cultural, commute, etc.) and you might be able to find a fixer-upper.
I moved to NJ from Bay Ridge a year and change ago. (speaking of: Bay Ridge is more affordable than much of Brooklyn--have you looked there for a rental?)
I strongly recommend that you have a chunk of change lying around for ancillary costs associated with the move (eg: lot of windows in a house--blinds cost HOW MUCH?!). I was surprised how many little costs I hadnt considered sprung up (seal the driveway, fertilize the lawn, I *need* a shed now for the lawn mower, etc..
Also, make sure you have a healthy emergency fund-- roof leaks, sewer backups... They happen.
I dont have any towns to offer, but if you are set on getting a house, I agree-- look at Bergen county--just be prepared for sticker shock when it comes to taxes.
I strongly recommend that you have a chunk of change lying around for ancillary costs associated with the move (eg: lot of windows in a house--blinds cost HOW MUCH?!). I was surprised how many little costs I hadnt considered sprung up (seal the driveway, fertilize the lawn, I *need* a shed now for the lawn mower, etc..
100% this. We closed on a house late last year thinking it wouldn't be that big of a deal because we could afford the monthly costs (mortgage + taxes are about double our rent, but now we also pay for water, sewer, gas/electric whereas before we only footed electric ourselves). We put about $7k into the house AFTER closing just to get the place ready - window treatments for bare windows, ripped up the skank carpet & had all the wood floors redone in the upper and middle level of the house, plus recarpeted the lower level and painted most of the main level & one of the rooms downstairs.
That money was partially us doing some of the work and partially us hiring out professionals. It would have cost much more if it wasn't for a lot of sweat equity and helpful parents on both sides. We didn't even touch most of the things I would like to do/need to be done in the future, only things that *needed* to get done for us to even move in. We also hired movers to get all of our heavy furniture from our apartment to our new home, which you also have to factor into your post-closing costs.
$1700/month might get you something around $250k if the taxes are not too high. You're probably better off renting for a few more years and saving like crazy to build a little egg you can use for buying your house.
The idea of taking a bus over the gwb and catching a subway would be ideal. Bergenfield and dumont are in a good location for your commute. You can probably find something decent for 250-300k.
Listen I think you will be playing with fire if you don’t expectyour salary to increase every year. At 105K that’s low in my opinion to maintaina house. If you just buy a modest 250K house with 3% down (min requirement I believefor a FHA loan) you will need to pay PMI which can run an additional 300 amonth which could bump your payments to 2k a month. What about when you have kids and other household expenses? We live in a modest Cape Cod and my taxes are 9k alone.We have spent about 40K on repairs on new a Kitchen (our choice to update), newheating and central AC (both broke down), put up a new fence, flooring in thebasement, carpet on the second floor and we did most of the work ourseleves. We bought the house that had a new roof,windows and water heater so we thought we were good. Please think twice beforeyou make the biggest investment of your life. You must be mentally and financiallyready.
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